Gulping Plimpies
by Shantari
Summary: After having been hospitalised due to poisoning, Ron spends most of his time in bed. When Luna shows up, for reasons even she's unsure of, Ron gets to know a different side of the loony girl. A behind the scenes look on events in HalfBlood Prince.


**Author's notes:** Fic inspired by a discussion on the S.C.U.S.A.-thread for HMS Red Moon in Fictionalleypark, that I had with Pixiezombie, about whether Luna visited Ron at the hospital in HBP or not. It has a new perspective of Luna that I'm not sure I caught well enough. Written around scenes in the book, so if you want the full story you'd have to read it along with HBP.

**Disclaimer:** Nobody better give me money for writing this, the legal hassle just ain't worth it.

Gulping Plimpies

Ron heard the footsteps of a girl coming around the corner into the nurse's office. Just in case it was Lavender, he closed his eyes, and just hoped that he would know if it was Hermione so that he would open them up before she left. He was hoping for Hermione to visit so that they could become friends again. For the couple of days that he had been here, the only visitors had been Harry and Lavender. The footsteps were close enough now for the person to be almost by his bed. They sounded kind of light, so he thought it was best to fake a snore.

"That must be the strangest snore I've heard," said an unexpected voice. "Wonder if he swallowed a Gulping Plimpie…?"

He opened his eyes to see Luna Lovegood standing by his bed, about to inspect his face.

"Hello Ron," she said. "Sorry if I woke you up."

"Don't worry, you didn't," he replied, uncertain as how to react. Was he disappointed or relieved that it was Luna that visited him? He was surprised at any rate. "What are you doing here?"

Luna didn't know what to say at first. She didn't flinch at the rude way he had asked, she already knew Ronald Weasley wasn't the most tactful of people. The truth was that she didn't really have a good reason to visit. Except maybe…

"So, I hear you're not going to be playing in the next game?" She said so casually as she looked at get-well-cards that had blinding colours.

Ron let out a loud sigh, wishing she would go away rather than bring that subject up.

"What's it to you?" Saying it out loud he heard how short and rude it sounded, and almost wished he hadn't said it at all. Almost, as he was still irritated to be reminded that the fool McLaggen had taken his place.

"Well," said Luna, carefully dragging out the process to find the right words. "You see, the thing is that Professor McGonagall told me that the next game needed a commentator. And I'm it, apparently." She knew that she had been told not to tell anyone, but she had to say something. Maybe she could convince Ron not to tell anyone else, it wasn't like he was going to be wandering around for a while. It was a nasty potion he had swallowed, from what she had heard.

Lost in her own musings, Luna didn't notice that Ron was shocked into silence from her words. Luna Lovegood? Quidditch commentator? Had the world gone mad? He suppressed the laughter building inside of him, he didn't want to chase her away. And why not? Because he didn't want to be alone. Rather alone than with Loony Lovegood though? She's not all that bad. She's raving mad. So's Hermione, at least Luna's here and good company. Perhaps, that remains to be seen…

Growing tired of his inner dialogue, Ron decided to keep up with an outer one instead, as well as proving his doubting self wrong.

"So…," he started with some hesitation. "I suppose congratulations are in order."

"Thank you," said Luna, meaning what she said. "I just remembered, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Professor McGonagall thought there was a chance someone might try and bribe me or do me ill, if it came out. Could you promise me to not tell anyone what I told you?"

Ron raised his eyebrows without noticing it. There was a chance someone might hurt Luna just because of Quidditch? Then he remembered the seriousness of the sport and what had happened to the last commentator.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," he said.

"Thank you," she said with relief evident in her voice. She wouldn't get into trouble with Professor McGonagall and Ron was on her side. A little spark of victorious joy erupted in the pit of her stomach.

"Do you think you're up to it," Ron asked worriedly, reminded of what had happened to Zacharias Smith, regardless of if he had earned it or not. "It could be almost as dangerous as being out in the field."

"I'll be fine," said Luna sincerely, "as long as I remember to keep myself on Ginny's good side."

"Yeah, my sister can pretty rough at times," he said laughing.

"But she can be pretty sweet too," Luna said with a smile that looked almost sad to Ron. He shrugged it off as bad lighting though.

"I wish I could be there to hear it," he said.

"Don't worry, Professor McGonagall assured me that as long as I speak clearly, my commentary can be heard all the way up to the castle."

Ron wondered to himself if it was something to look forward to or not, Luna's voice telling him of the game he would not be able to participate in.

"Look, do you like Quidditch?" he asked.

"Of course I do," said Luna happily. "My father and I were among the first in place for the Quidditch World Cup, and I've got my entire ceiling decorated with posters from both Ballycastle Bats and Chudley Cannons. My walls are mostly covered with newspaper clippings though…" She thought of the lovely Quibbler-articles that had been given special places on her walls.

"Chudley Cannons?" asked Ron. "That's my favourite team! I've been rooting for them my entire life!"

"You have," asked Luna highly surprised. "I've always been told you'd have to be as barmy as me to root for them."

Hesitating for a couple of seconds after that statement, Ron shrugged it off and dived right into a discussion.

"Hey, being a fan of both teams, what did you think of that game between the Cannons and the Bats back in 89?"

"You mean how the Bat chasers should have known better than to play when the cloud formations clearly showed that they would be in bad luck?"

"Actually," he said, wondering what he had gotten himself into. "I was thinking more of the formations of the players…"

And so they went on for a good hour and fifteen minutes, talking of both Quidditch and whatever else entered Luna's mind, until she glanced at a clock on the wall.

"Oh dear, I should be getting back to my dorm to get started on my homework."

As she bent down and picked up her bookbag to hang over her shoulder, Ron felt a pang of sudden misery. He had had no idea he would enjoy Luna's company so much, and now he really wanted her to stay.

"Do you really have to go?" he asked. When she looked at him he hurriedly continued. "It gets kind of lonely here."

"I'm sorry," she said with regret, "but I think I can pop by day after tomorrow. That okay?"

"That'll be fine," he said with a wide smile. "I'll see you then."

"Bye then!" She hurried out of the nurse's office and headed down the corridor towards the Ravenclaw common room. Soon after she was out of sight from the corridor, someone else turned up. Hermione Granger.

She really should visit him, she thought to herself. But she was so busy right now. What was more important now? Cleverness or friendship? She knew the answer was friendship… But, what would she say? "I'm sorry I pecked your face with canaries, but I was jealous over how you had someone to snog while I have no one"? Because that wouldn't sound psycho at all, she thought as she rolled her eyes. Looking at the parchment in her hand, she decided to first deal with something she knew how to handle. Really complex Arithmancy equations. And off she went to her dorm, passing the nurse's office without entering it, thinking that there would be plenty of opportunity to make up with Ron later. But before she was out of sight, yet another young female student graced the corridor with her presence, as well as her sense of vision.

Hermione Granger? Had she just been visiting Ron? Then maybe he was awake for once. Lavender had to strain herself from bouncing into the nurse's office. But there was no need to strain once she entered. He was snoring loudly, again! She walked up to him carefully. Although his face was almost completely relaxed, a smile was still evident on it. Lavender wouldn't kid herself in this matter, it wasn't for her sake that he was smiling. It was because of the girl that had visited him just now. She turned on her heel and left. Ron was never awake when she was around, and Lavender didn't exactly fancy asking Hermione how Ron was. It was time to pay another friend of Ron's a visit. Harry would certainly know how his best friend was doing.

As the week passed, Ron enjoyed visits from Luna, Harry and Hermione. He was still surprised that he enjoyed Luna's company so much. He had actually figured that he would be enjoying the visits from Hermione more, seeing as they were finally friends again, and it was so rare to have Hermione being both apologetic and nice to him. And hearing from Harry what a prick McLaggen was did feel good. But he still enjoyed Luna's visits the most. She made him feel good and was just generally fun to hang out with. There was so much he didn't know about her, and he just kept learning. On the day of the Quidditch game she popped in before the game.

"I'm afraid I can't stay very long now," she said. "McGonagall wants me to come early to prepare some stuff."

"That's alright, it's just nice to have you here."

"Do you really mean it," she said, her voice uncertain. "I mean, I know you'd rather have your friends here."

"Well, I do hope to see both Harry and Hermione before the game, but Luna, you're my friend too. You know that."

"Perhaps… I got to go now, I'll see you sometime." Luna got up and started to leave with a hurry.

"Wait," Ron said as he got up into a sitting position. "What did you mean by 'perhaps'?"

"I really have to go now," Luna said by the door. "I hope you get better soon, bye!"

Stretching his hand out a bit lamely, Ron whispered "bye" for himself.

Opening the door to a girls' bathroom and into a stall. Why was she crying? She couldn't understand it herself. It was just that no matter how much she wanted to believe him she couldn't. She had heard the same before, someone calling her a friend, and then turn around and join the mocking of her. If Ron would turn out to be the same… It would just hurt so much! Even though she knew he could be unkind, she still felt something for him. She had admired him for quite some time, and it had been quite a rude wake-up call when he had called her "Loony" just like everyone else did. Of course she had known she wouldn't be as high in his esteem as he was in hers. But knowing something intuitively and having it confirmed through action was two entirely different matters. It would be nice to be friends with him, as she had learned that he could be kind as well as he could be unkind. But she was also quite certain that once he was out of the hospital he would rather be with his real friends than with her. Enough with this! She turned on a faucet and splashed some of the water in her face, washing off any traces of tears while effectively cooling down her face. If she was now so used to being someone's substitute friend, why did she make such a big deal of it now? It just wasn't a big deal, and there was no reason to make it one. She grabbed a towel and dried her face and hair completely, looking over herself in the mirror. A deep breath and she felt more at ease. In the mirror, looking back at her, was her usual dreamy self. All she had to remember was what McGonagall had said: "Just be yourself and don't overthink it." That would be no problem for her she figured with a half-smile. Just doing what she was used to. She looked at the time and then walked off to the Quidditch field.

Ron had to admit that he was a bit disappointed. Luna had just rushed off and Hermione hadn't even dropped by at all before the game. At least Harry had stayed for a while. He couldn't help but wonder why Luna had to be at the field before the Quidditch players. It wasn't like she would need to change into robes like the players or anything like that. Maybe they had to give her special instructions or something like that? He leaned back into the pillows with a sigh, kind of glad that he wasn't put on commenting duties. Thinking about it, he guessed he should be glad if he got to stay on the team. If that McLaggen turned out to be better than him after all… Harry had mentioned that he had been a bit of a pain, but he might still regret those words in the light of possible performance on the field. Without noticing it Ron balled his fists. Wasn't the game about to start soon? Would Harry get there in time? He had left rather late, hadn't he? He would be able to hear when it started, right? Right then he heard, as if it had just been outside of the door in the corridor, Luna's voice coming through the window...

Several days later, Luna walked out of the Owlery while inspecting the two packages her father had sent. The larger one contained a spotted toadstool from an Egyptian pyramid, or a Moyering Mushroom as they were usually called. He would want her to confirm its authenticity, she assumed. She pocketed it, together with a large dose of presumably desert sand, for closer inspection later and looked in the other package. A smile broke out as she unravelled the Gurdyroot. She probably had a dozen already of them in her trunk, besides all the ones back home, but her father never seemed to miss an opportunity to send her one. She put it in yet another pocket. Considering the toadstool she steered her steps towards the library, but not straight towards it. She preferred to take a longer walk then necessary to allow her mind as much wandering as she allowed her legs. It was good to exercise both mind and body, was what she had been taught. Without even noticing it she found herself passing by the phoenix statue outside of the Headmaster's office, where she hadn't been since last year when that Umbridge person had been Headmistress, who if anything had made it her greatest accomplishment to be loathed by all students. Suddenly the phoenix statue jumped to the side and Headmaster Dumbledore appeared, with a note in his hand. Noticing her almost as quickly as she had noticed him, he walked up to her and stretched out the note towards her.

"Miss Lovegood," he said. "Would you be so kind as to take this note to Mr Potter? I believe you've met him before, so I hope you won't have too much trouble finding him."

"Yes Sir," Luna said, all to happy to help Professor Dumbledore in any way.

"Good. Now, it's rather urgent so please try and get it to him as soon as possible, and I presume I can trust you with not viewing its contents."

"Of course, Sir," Luna said sincerely.

Dumbledore smiled in thanks and returned to his office, leaving Luna to think where she was most likely to find Harry Potter, and at the same time remembering that meeting up with him would more than probably lead to her running into his best friend, Ron.

Ever since the Quidditch game she had repeatedly told herself that seeing as they were in different years and houses there would be no reason to have to run into or meet him. Almost everyone had told her that her commenting had been horrible or awful or horribly awful. A few had given her compliments, just to turn it around in the next sentence to an insult. And she had gone on about how she would make the commenting fun and keeping it interesting. She just didn't think she could face Ron after the disappointment she turned out to be. Calm down, she told herself mentally. She's always calm, usually, why had it been so lately, that she hadn't been able to keep herself as calm as usual? Was it Ron that made her nervous? But it wasn't like she still had that crush on him, was it? After she realised where she stood in his regard, she'd decided to let go, right? Or was it just futile to tell the heart to do something it just couldn't do? So dramatic, she thought as she looked at the note in her hand. It's not like she would have to even say a word to Ron, she was just to hand the note to Harry the next time she saw him. Nothing more than that, she thought as she put it in one of her overfull pockets.

Later that day…

Standing by the bed, Ron stretched his neck and limbs carefully before approaching the task of removing his robes and put on his pyjamas. How come being shouted at, by a girlfriend that he didn't know how to break up with, was almost as strenuous as Quidditch practice? Before reaching the clasp on the front, his hand somehow found their way to his pocket where it subconsciously clasped the Gurdyroot. Pulling it out, he just looked at it for a while. What was it Luna had said about it again? That it protected against Gulping Plimpies? He chuckled as he thought about Luna's visits in the hospital, her commentary at the Quidditch game and the realisation he had had when meeting her today. Then he thought about his anxieties in regards to McLaggen, Harry, Hermione and Lavender, not to mention life in general, and how his encounters with Luna had put them in different perspectives. He couldn't help but laugh a little. It wasn't like he really needed the Gurdyroot at all. Luna was the one who could cure him off all his Gulping Plimpies.

As Luna lay in bed she kept thinking of Ron. So he didn't dislike her after all… And he had actually liked her commentary, so she hadn't promised more than she had lived up to. He had even been genuinely interested in that Gurdyroot. Perhaps he was holding it right now, she thought, perhaps he'd keep it with him. And let it protect him from Gulping Plimpies. Just like the memory of his smile would always protect her from her Gulping Plimpies…


End file.
